A spokesman for Cuadrilla said on Saturday: "Due to the weather conditions yesterday afternoon and this morning, we will now start pumping on Monday.

"In high winds we couldn't use the crane to manoeuvre some equipment into place."

At a hearing in London on Friday, Mr Justice Supperstone dismissed Bob Dennett's application for an injunction preventing the company from fracking the UK's first horizontal shale gas well pending his proposed legal challenge.

Mr Dennett claimed Lancashire County Council's emergency response planning and procedures at the site were inadequate, but the judge ruled there was not a "serious issue" to be tried which would justify an interim order.

In a statement after the ruling, Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: "We are delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations as planned. We are now commencing the final operational phase to evaluate the commercial potential for a new source of indigenous natural gas in Lancashire.